Sandy Spring Bank Lowers Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Sandy Spring Bank reduced its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 26.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,437 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 528 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in GSK were worth $49,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,035 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 67,969 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,299,000 after buying an additional 5,583 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 17,206 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of GSK by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 25,261,660 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $854,349,000 after buying an additional 10,407,905 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of GSK by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 32,657 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 2,847 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Stock Down 0.5 %

GSK stock opened at $39.22 on Friday. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $31.72 and a 1-year high of $45.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $81.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.3932 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GSK. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Profile

GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, and manufacture of vaccines, and specialty and general medicines to prevent and treat disease in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Commercial Operations and Total R&D.